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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.

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Entries in food (56)

Saturday
Dec262015

civilized ku # 3029 / diptych # 2000-02 ~ little Xmas joys

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a Ruby Slipper ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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between courses things ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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appetizer / butter ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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soup / dessert ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Since moving to the Adirondacks in 2000, Xmas tradition at our house has been a Xmas Eve family sleepover gathering for tree decorating and dinner followed by Xmas morning gift giving and a hearty Frittata breakfast. By just after noon, non-household family members depart to their household and the wife and I are left to our self amusements and the predominant amusement is Xmas day dinner at the Lake Placid Lodge.

The Xmas dinner at the lodge is a prix fixe four-course affair consisting of 2 starter / appetizer courses, the main course and dessert. Each course has 4-5 choices, some of which can be found on their "regular" menu (which changes according to the season to feature seasonal fare) , some of which are unique to the Xmas affair.

I find the menu itself to be rather obtuse inasmuch as I did not attend culinary school where I am certain they have courses in menu writing. Writing which I am also certain is design to confuse and, at the same time, impress the non-cognoscenti (food / ingredient speaking wise) fine diners of the world. I am equally convinced that, if the menu stated, using everyday Americanized English words, clearly and exactly what it is you are eating, they might never be able to justify the prices they charge for the stuff.

As an example, the picture of the appetizer exhibited in this entry is listed on the menu as:

SCOTTISH OCEAN TROUT ~ HOUSE CURED, MANDARINQUAT, CITRUS CRÈME FRAÎCHE, DILL, PINK PEPPERCORN, KNÆCKBRØD

Reading that is kinda like being in a foreign country where you know just enough of the language to get the jist of what is being said.

Because I didn't picture the menu, I could not, in any detail, tell you what the other food is other than to name the primary food item. And, to be honest, in several cases I did not know exactly what (other than the main food item) it was I was eating although some recognizable ingredient tastes emerged in the various offerings.

In any event, the cuisine at the Lake Placid lodge is uniformly excellent. In large part, that is due to the local farm freshness of many of the ingredients, exquisite preparation, and just the right light touch / blend of the various ingredients - in some cases, seemingly odd combinations - which make up each dish. There is most definitely an artful coming together of the taste of the featured food item and the various accent ingredients which compliment but do not overwhelm the taste of the featured food item - striking a truly delicate (and delicious) balance.

As an example, the soup pictured in this entry is butternut soup with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some other minor ingredients which are either lost to memory or never recognized in the the reading of the menu. Now, I never would have thought of putting any kind of ice cream into any kind of soup, but the contrasting sensation in the mouth of warm and cold was quite interesting. And, as the not overly sweet creamy ice cream melted, it progressively changed the texture and taste of the soup itself. A truly outstanding combination.

In addition to the preparation, as should be made obvious by the pictures in this entry, the presentation is very visually intriguing. At several points in the meal, I commented to the wife that I wanted to have 2 of every dish I ordered - one eat and one to just look at.

I also mentioned that I wished someone would develop and offer a menu translation dictionary.
Monday
Feb022015

kitchen life # 63 ~ don't know how much more of this I can take

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trash can ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
In a recent essay, Responsibilty and Truth in Photography, Jörg M. Colberg - founder and editor of Conscientious Photography Magazine - wrote:

You can take a photograph in such a way that even though it is a complete artifact (all photographs are), it will look like an objective depiction of whatever was in front of the camera’s lens .... This is territory that many people find hard to navigate. If a camera is a little machine that faithfully records what is in front of it and that displays just that, then obviously it’s the photographer who screws up if there is a problem. Now, a camera is not at all just some little machine that does that. It never faithfully records what was in front of it, and the many steps that lie between the pressing of the shutter’s button and the display of the resulting image (in whatever form) make the connection between reality and picture very, very difficult.

While Colberg tends to be of the same mind as I am, re: (his words) "photography theory sounds really good, at least on paper (assuming, of course, it’s not the usual academic drivel, with terms taken from semi-nonsensical French philosophy thrown in for good measure)", he nevertheless can't help but to delve into the whole "never faithfully records", and, "the many steps that lie between the pressing of the shutter’s button and the display of the resulting image" thing , both of which, according to academic theory, results in making "the connection between reality and picture very, very difficult."

Sure, sure. A picture of something is not the thing itself. Sure, sure. A picture maker can employ many steps in the making of a picture. However, IMO, drawing from those facts the conclusion that a picture can not faithfully, in fact never, record what was in front of the camera is pure flapdoodle and green paint.

Sure, sure. Many different interpretations can be had from the viewing of a photograph, as many as there are viewers, but, despite the number of differing interpretations / understandings / meanings to be had (many of which may have little relationship to the picture maker's intentions), that in no way means that the picture from which they are made is a not faithful recording / depiction / representation of what was in front of the camera.

A factual / accurate depiction of a chosen referent and the interpretations / understandings /meanings deduced from it are two entirely different, although related, domains. One involves seeing, the other involves feeling and thinking.

That written, there are always viewers to whom a picture is just a picture and there are those who must turn a picture into an academic critical analysis, intellectual labyrinth, psycho-analytical exercise. Those who prefer the latter seem to be those with an surfeit of art education who seem to need to convince themselves that they got their money's worth, student loan / education wise. They never give it a rest.

Although, even one of the all-time greats (art theory writing and speaking wise), Jeff Wall seems to have given it rest:

I think the process of deconstructing photography as a rhetoric has reached a point of exhaustion.

Amen to that.

Friday
Jan162015

still life # 28 ~ MARVELOUS THINGS: THE ART OF STILL LIFE

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tray and bowl • click to embiggen
In an entry last mid-November, I posted the picture in this entry along with the notification of the selection of one of my pictures into the juried exhibition MARVELOUS THINGS: THE ART OF STILL LIFE at PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont. Aline Smithson, author / publisher of LENSCRATCH FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY DAILY was the sole judge and jury.

In any event, the reason for the repost of the picture is that I just received notification of the availabilty of the exhibition catalog of the show. The entire catalog can be viewed on line and it's well worth a look. The catalog contains the 40 pictures which are in the gallery exhibition (pgs.5-43) plus some others which were selected for the Online Gallery Annex. And, of course, there is the actual exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery (3 Park Street) in Vermont.

There are some mighty fine pictures to see.

Tuesday
Dec302014

civilized ku # 2855 / diptych # 118 ~ 'tis the season - good eats

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red door ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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scallop appetizer / Canadian venison ~ Lake Placid Lodge / Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Xmas dinner at the Lake Placid Lodge.

Thursday
Jan022014

diptych # 59 / civilized ku # 2643-48 ~ paying the piper

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Lake Placid Lodge ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Xmas dinner / Lake Placid Lodge ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Xmas dinner check/ Lake Placid Lodge ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Tuthilltown Spirits / in my kitchen ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
In addition to all of the usual holiday comings and goings, the wife and I have been treated to life in sub-zero temperatures without a furnace. With 5 electric oil-filled radiators and a continuous raging fire in the fireplace we have manged to keep the house at a semi-tolerable 2-pair-wool-socks-thermal-underwear-turtleneck-wool-sweater-2-comforters+wool-blanket-on-the-bed temperature. The real challenge we face is finding a heating contractor that isn't booked solid with fix the furnace - as opposed to replace the furnace - emergencies.

In any event, the furnace failure (cracked boiler) was a post Xmas event, so the wife and I were able to enjoy our annual Xmas dinner at the
Lake Placid Lodge. The Lodge offers a 3-course prix fixe menu with only 3 choices for each course. The food at the Lodge is beyond excellent and the ambiance is warm and intimate rustic which makes for a very relaxing and enjoyable experience / meal. Especially so when one is blissfully unaware of the about to unfold furnace debacle.

That written, the Lodge is a rather pricey joint in which to dine what with a $102.00US bottle of wine (low cost on their wine list) and all. But what caught my attention - albeit not until day or two later when I actually looked at the check - was the fact that we had paid $24.00US for a pour of one of my favorite bourbons - Hudson Baby Bourbon from Tuthilltown Spirits , a downstate distillery. Tuthilltown Spirits is distilling whiskeys, the first to do so (legally) in New York State since Prohibition.

I really like the distillery's bourbons / whiskeys as is made evident by the picture of 4 of their 5 varieties sitting on my kitchen table. The 5th variety - a single malt whiskey - is on its way to my local liquor store. Each of the products offer forth, to the nose and the palette, a distinctly different take on their respective genres - rye, whiskey, bourbon, and unaged corn whiskey, aka: good ol' American high proof moonshine / white lightnin'.

For the uninitiated, bourbon / whiskey wise, a really great / interesting learning experience is to acquire the Corn Whiskey and the Baby Bourbon Whiskey and compare the 2 side-by-side. They are both made from the exact same mash. The difference in the end products is that, after distillation, one is aged in oak barrels while the other goes straight into the bottle without any aging. With this comparison, the color and taste of the barrel - which in a good whiskey / bourbon is a combination of different colors and many flavors - in the aged product is immediately apparent.

All of that written, back to the $24.00US pour of Hudson Baby Bourbon at the Lake Placid Lodge - most Tuthilltown whiskeys are priced at $40.00US for the 375ml bottles pictured above. Not cheap by any means, putting it in the upper reaches, cost wise, of excellent (but not rare) bourbons / whiskeys. However, one pour at the Lake Placid Lodge is more than half the cost of a bottle of Hudson Baby Bourbon. If I had had a second pour, for the same cost I could have purchased a bottle of the stuff and left the change from a $50.00 bill on the counter.

I guess all the nice Lake Placid Lodge warmth and rustic ambiance has a price.

Thursday
May092013

civilized ku # 2506-09 ~ seaside attractions

Lobster remains ~ 2nd Peninsula Road / Deans Corner - Nova Scotia, Canada • click to embiggen
Mussels ~ The Knot Pub / Lunenburg, Nova Scotia / Canada • click to embiggenSeaweed ~ Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia / Canada • click to embiggenBoats / harbor ~ Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia / Canada • click to embiggen

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: ".... Not sure what the attraction is for you in Nova Scotia. Seems a lot like the Adirondacks but without mountains... only ocean.?"

my response: Well, there's 1)lobster fresh from the sea, 2)mussels,fresh from the sea @ $5.00CAN/lb, 3)seascapes, and 4) quaint fishing villages to name just a few "attractions".

Thursday
Dec272012

civilized ku # 2432-35 / kitchen life # 35 ~ holiday whitening with holiday reds

Red pepper in zip lock bag ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen1044757-21364253-thumbnail.jpg
B-ball hoop ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Red truck ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Red sleigh ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
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Red ribbons ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
One of the benies I get from reading Aline Smithsoon's LENSCRATCH, in addition to viewing the interesting pictures from a wide variety of picture makers, is Aline's regular mentions, re: picture exhibition submission opportunities. While I am not a fan of submitting pictures to picture competitions, I often enjoy viewing the final selections thereof.

My favorite form of group picture exhibitions is the type Aline often conducts / publishes on L E N S C R A T C H - every submission is accepted / published. Her most recent exhibition, the 2012 LENSCRATCH Holiday Exhibition, can be viewed here. I did not participate in that exhibition but I have in others, to include the next exhibition, YOUR FAVORITE PHOTO FROM 2012, which will be published on January 1, 2013.

All of that written, the reason I bring up the topic, picture competitions, is because most competitions are conducted around a specific theme-based submission criteria. I have taken to using some of those individual themes as a guide for viewing my picture library with the intention of identifying individual theme-based bodies of work which are "hidden" within my library of nearly 5,000 pictures and counting.

That viewing M.O. has surprised me by the number of unintentionally created bodies of work there are lurking within my total body of work. And, by identifying them, I am now able to organize and work toward intentionally expanding those bodies of work.

As an example, I never set out, with the deliberated intention, to create a body of work entitled Rain. However, over time I have, in fact, made lots of pictures in and of the rain. While I made those pictures as a result of my picturing what I see M.O., to be honest, I never thought of those pictures as an individual body of work which was independent from my total body of work. Nevertheless, the Rain pictures have emerged, by dint of theme-based viewing of the pictures in my library, from the total mass of my picturing endeavors as a legitimate stand alone body of work.

FYI, that written, it should be understood that I have worked on several bodies of work which, from day two, were undertaken as intentionally created individual bodies of work. Good examples of those would be; single women, decay & disgust, pictures windows, art reflects, and tangles. However, please note (as written), I began to pursue these bodies of work in earnest on day two, not on day one, because ....

(I usually found that if I had a preconceived idea for a project it wouldn’t amount to much. Discovery — an aggressive receptivity, if you will — of what is in the landscape provides the inspiration for new ideas. ~ Richard Misrach)

... while it has often been stated / written that, in order to be successful in one's endeavor to make good pictures, one should choose a referent one cares about and then set about picturing it, IMO, there is a better way to go about selecting a referent for in-depth investigation, picture making wise ....

There's a whole world out there and, therefore, a whole world of picturing possibilities. Although, from that nearly endless array, a few picturing possibilities might enter one noggin based upon familiarity and culturally conditioned habitual thinking, IMO, one might be better served by spending a fair amount of time and effort picturing anything and everything within the range of one's environs and regular daily life. And then ...

.... after amassing an extensive number of pictures, take a long look at the results to see what, picturing without thinking about it, pricked your eye and sensibilities. I'd be surprised if something doesn't stand out, seemingly unbidden, like a sore thumb, screaming for continued attention.

My previously mentioned bodies of work were conceived on (symbolic) day one when, as I was picturing anything and everything, my eye and sensibilities were pricked by something which, in a very real sense, came as a surprise to my rational / conscious picturing mind. That is to write, I wasn't born wanting to picture decay, tangles, or picture windows (et al). Rather, I discovered those picturing interests by mucking about, picture making wise, all over the place on a wide picturing landscape.

(symbolic) Day two dawned when I awoke to and clothed myself in picturing possibilities hitherto unimagined.

Anyone out there tried looking, theme-based wise, at your work to find "hidden" bodies of work? And, if you have an ongoing body of work, how did you come upon it?

Monday
Dec172012

civilized ku # 2423 ~ waiting for eggs

Toast and juice ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen

A painter’s picture maker's eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable. ~ William Henry Fox Talbot

... with my apologies to William Henry Fox Talbot.